GORHAM, Maine – Five members of the University of Southern Maine Huskies' women's cross country and track & field program have earned 2024-2025 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honors. Earning the academic distinction were graduate student Olivia Jalbert (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little), seniors Jaigan Boudreau (Dayton, Maine/Thornton Academy) and Heaven Conley (Ogunquit, Maine/Wells), and juniors Alexis Karantza (Westbrook, Maine) and Riley Reitchel (Palermo, Maine/Erskine Academy). Each student-athlete also earned the honor for the 2023-24 academic year as well.
 
To be eligible for Academic All-District recognition, student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically with a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or higher. They must also have a rank in the Top 50 in their region in a single event (XC, indoor or outdoor). Selected by College Sports Communicators, the Academic All-District teams recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in competition and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. Reitchel will now advance to the Academic All-American ballot.
 
Boudreau earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region honors in the discus and shot put for the second consecutive outdoor season by finishing in the top five in the region in each event. She placed second in each event at the Little East Conference Outdoor Championships this spring. The spring season also saw her place third in both events at the Division III New England Championships, where she set a personal-best in the shot put with a mark of 13.02m. She was ranked 43rd in Division III in the discus at the end of the season with a mark of
43.74m. A Criminology major, Boudreau also earned Academic All-District honors in 2023-24.
 
Conley, an Elementary Education major, won conference titles in the outdoor 400 meters in 2025 and as part of the indoor 4x400, indoor 4x200 and outdoor 4x400 relay teams. She also ran on a 4x200 relay team that broke the program record with a time of 1:42.04 to place second at the 2025 DIII New England Indoor Championships. In addition to her conference titles, Conley set personal bests in the 200 meters (25.80 seconds) and 400 meters (58.41 seconds) during the outdoor season.
 
Now a three-time Academic All-District selection, Jalbert earned her degree in Exercise Science and is working towards a master's degree in Leadership Studies. She earned Third Team All-LEC honors in the high jump at the indoor conference championships and in the javelin at the outdoor event. She ranked in the top 15 in the region in the indoor long jump at 5.17m and in the javelin at 36.20m. The latter came at the DIII New England Championships where she placed seventh.
 
Karantza won a pair of individual conference titles in 2024-25 plus two titles as part of relay teams. She took first in the 600 meters at the LEC Indoor Championships and won a title with the 4x400 relay team as well. She then won her second consecutive conference title in 400-meter hurdles at the outdoor conference championship in addition to a first-place finish with the 4x400 team. Karantza earned Third Team All-LEC honors in the 400 meters. Her best 400-meter hurdles time of 1:05.38 ranked fifth in the East region and earned her All-Region honors. Like Conley, she was also a member of the 4x200 relay team that set a new program record during the indoor season. A Nursing major, she also runs cross country for the Huskies and placed 40th at the LEC Championships with a personal-best 5k time of 21:09.8.
 
Reitchel, a Linguistics major, placed fourth in the javelin last month at the NCAA DIII National Championships with a throw of 41.32m to earn First Team All-American honors. She won both the LEC title and the DIII New England title in the javelin this season and earned All-Region honors. In addition to her exceptional performance in the javelin, Reitchel earned Second Team All-LEC honors in the pole vault during both the indoor and outdoor seasons and finished each season ranked in the top 15 in the region. She also ran on a 4x100 relay team that placed third at the LEC Outdoor Championships.